Herhold: San Jose and the Stanley Cup

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San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture (39) celebrates his third period goal with teammates Patrick Marleau (12) and Joe Pavelski (8) during their game against the St. Louis Blues in Game 6 of the NHL Western Conference finals on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

San Jose Sharks forward Logan Couture (39) celebrates his third period goal with teammates Patrick Marleau (12) and Joe Pavelski (8) during their game against the St. Louis Blues in Game 6 of the NHL Western Conference finals on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif. (Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group)

In the 36 years I have lived in San Jose, nothing more important has happened to our fair town than this: The Sharks are in the Stanley Cup finals. Bearded and bloodied, they have a chance to seize the world championship. More significantly, San Jose has its moment to take a bow on the world’s stage.

You don’t have to be a hockey fan to understand this. You can remain blessedly ignorant of the red line and the crease and the faceoff circle. You will still feel the impact. In a city prone to meaningless boasts — the nation’s tenth-largest city, the capital of Silicon Valley, etc. — this is something tangible, something real. San Jose is the home of the Sharks.

Why does it matter? In a suburban city like ours, the great fault is a lack of glue. Unlike established cities in the North or East, San Jose has a slender common narrative beyond navigating the commute. It has few families that reach back more than a generation. It’s seen as a decent place to live while making money, not a city that inspires long-term affection.

We make this problem worse by a tendency to apologize for who we are. Look at the organizations that have inserted “Silicon Valley” into their name, beginning with the Chamber of Commerce and various hotels. Look at others who have dropped the “San Jose,” including my own newspaper. Think of the number of times you explain to your friends from the East that you live in the Bay Area, or 50 miles south of San Francisco, or an hour from the beach.

Recognition

The Sharks’ appearance in the Stanley Cup finals won’t change all that. But it will begin the process of recognition, in a way that the Fairmont Hotel or convention center have not. As long as they play in San Jose, the Sharks are obligated to have “San Jose” in their name. Just the repeated invocation of the city on national television will help answer the questions of who and where we are.

I write these words as I prepare to eat substantial crow. Last September, I wrote a column announcing that henceforth — or at least until Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau left the team — I was going stop going to Sharks games and transfer my allegiances to the San Jose Barracuda, the minor league team.

Like a lot of longtime fans — and I saw the very first Sharks game in 1991 at the Cow Palace — I ached from the team’s collapse against the Los Angeles Kings two years ago.

Return to glory

Naturally, in the year I renounced them, the Sharks suddenly got hot, going further in the playoffs than ever before. I still haven’t seen a game at the SAP Center, but I have started returning to the fold. At first, it was just checking my ESPN app during games. Then it was listening to the radio. At the end of their victory Wednesday night against the Blues, I was watching on television.

I’ve covered many big stories during my time in San Jose: The city’s $60 million (later reduced to $39 million) loss in the bond market. The Loma Prieta earthquake. The bold gamble on downtown’s rebirth. The rise and fall of the dot-com era. The battles over building freeways and BART. The Garden City card room skimming case.

Many of those stories got national attention. But nothing will advertise the city — nothing will create the glue we need — like a team with the name “San Jose” playing for a world championship. Forget that stuff about the tenth-largest city, or the nation’s safest big city, or any other silly boast. Forget the allure of Silicon Valley. San Jose — yes, San Jose — is the home of the Sharks.

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